Chapter 6

ARexx and Multitasking in Action

The videos below show this chapter’s example ARexx application in action, integrating three disparate software products from three different vendors: Nag, a scheduler and reminder; SuperBase Professional, a database; and ProWrite, a word processor.

As we are working, we receive a notification from Nag Plus that we should make a call to a Dr. Thomas West, Sr. We click his record in Nag Plus to activate an Arexx script which first checks to see if we already have a notes file for Dr. West. It finds we do not, and so looks up his information in a SuperBase database. It then creates a new ProWrite document into which it imports said information. We are left ready to take notes on our call.

Unfortunately, his secretary informs us that the good doctor is in surgery. We agree to call back tomorrow, August 11, at 3:00 PM, and note this in his file. We then save the file and return to Nag Plus, where we add a reminder for tomorrow at 3:00 PM.

It is now the next day at 3:00 PM. Once again Nag reminds us to call Dr. West. We once again click his name to activate our ARexx script. This time, however, the script does find an extent note file for Dr. West — the one we began yesterday. It therefore loads that into ProWrite without needing to access SuperBase at all, and leaves us there ready to add further notes about this call.